On Junior: “He was lucky to be raised by my boy Daddy (Millan’s longtime pit-bull alter ego, who died a year ago at age 16). … Junior loves to be in a (sold-out) theater. He’s a show-business dog. The funny thing is my little son (Calvin, 12), is also into the showbiz. They both love the clapping, they love the audience. My son is going on a tour with me to Europe, because he wants to have more time on stage.”

On Daddy: “Daddy’s been loved for along time. Daddy is a unique individual. Everywhere he went he was one of those guys that will melt your heart as soon as he enters into a room. There is such a thing as special people, special dogs, special individuals. What Daddy passed to Junior is how he can deal with the humans. How do you break the barrier, dog to human?”

On pit bulls as a breed: “Remember that Petey from ‘The Little Rascals’ was a pit bull, and that’s the only dog that actually worked with a pack of kids. We fail to recognize that; we fail to remind people that the only dog that has two medals as a brave soldier was a pit bull in World War II. It saved a lot of people’s lives. We fail to recognize the positivity that this breed has done.

We like to recognize Labrador as most beloved dog in America, or Lassie and Rin Tin Tin. … I recommend to people rescuing a dog no matter what breed they are. I do recognize pit bulls are a powerful breed. So there are consequences people can suffer if the power is not controlled. A Jack Russell is smaller so the fear of it is smaller, the damage it can do is smaller, but it is still a powerful breed. Aggression is aggression. A person with a gun, doesn’t matter how small it is, is dangerous. A breed is not dangerous. What is dangerous is the human behind the dog. That pit bull (in a shelter) could be healing a lot of people. You can ask a kid that is 3 (or) 4 years old, ‘What breed is that dog?’ They don’t know. Thy don’t care. They see a dog that can give love.”

On dog euthanasia: “I like to always to use a quote, ‘The greatness of a nation and its morals can be measured by the way we treat our animals.’ This is Gandhi. The way we treat our animals, we also treat our people. Four to 5 million dogs die (in shelters) every year in America, and the majority is pit bulls. And most of them, it’s just because they’re pit bulls. America calls itself a ‘dog-loving nation,’ and it kills 4 to 5 million dogs every year and nobody knows, because they keep it hush-hush. When you do the research you find that most of the dogs that die, it’s not because they were aggressive, it’s just nobody wanted them. It was just an impulse: ‘Oh, we bought this, we don’t want it anymore.’ ”

On a Chinese coal baron paying $1.5 million for a red Tibetan mastiff: “For that much money we could rescue a lot of dogs, we could fix a lot of shelters, we could educate a lot of people. Obviously this is a very wealthy man who thinks about himself instead of the rest of the world. You can do with your money whatever you want, of course, but from a point of view of helping the world, it is not right. … You go to Mexico with that money, you don’t just save dogs, you save a lot of people.”

3 Responses

My family has an 8 month old black lab/rott mix puppy. She was the cutest fur ball, but now she is the most stubborn, obstinate dog we have ever had. She is aggressive – tries to use me as a chew toy and when she starts barking and jumping will not quit. I have to crate her to calm her down. I would like to offer her services for a demonstration during your show.

I agree with the article except for one thing… Pit Bull is a type of dog..not a breed. It is like saying retriever… well what kind of retriever.. Golden Retriever, Labrador..etc.
There are actually over 20 breeds that will people call a pit bull.

Personally I have owned 4 pit bull type dogs and volunteer at a shelter and work with pit bull type dogs.. 99.9 per cent of these dogs are just scarred dogs, that want to be loved and give love..
Yes they are powerfull.. but with Cesar’s techniques of exercise, discipline and affection .. they are great companions.

I volunteer at a shelter on Long Island, Ny. it breaks my heart every single day I am there. I am a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant and Trainer. I do what I can for these wonderful dogs. They are so misunderstood. Obviously the majority of the dogs are pits and we try so hard to let the public know just how terrific they are.